Europe keeps its distance from growing US-Russia diplomatic spat

The European Union considers the ongoing diplomatic dispute between Moscow and Washington a “bilateral issue” and is keeping its distance, a European Commission Spokesperson told EURACTIV.com.

The US Congress recently voted to expand sanctions against Moscow for New US sanctions for Russia’s meddling in the 2016 US presidential election, an allegation that Russia denies, as well as the annexation of Crimea in 2014.

The European Union sounded the alarm on Saturday (22 July) about moves in the US Congress to step up sanctions on Russia, urging Washington to keep coordinating with its G7 partners and warning of unintended consequences.

US reaction not decided yet

Speaking at the ASEAN Regional Forum in the Philippines on Monday, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said he told Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that “meddling in the elections is certainly a serious incident”.

Tillerson added that the US had not made a decision regarding how to respond to Russia’s request to remove US diplomatic personnel but there will be “a response to the matter by 1 September”.

“We have our differences, we’re going to have to continue to find a way to address those,” he emphasised.